Drama Reviews, Opinions & Love!

Master Devil Do Not Kiss Me 恶魔少爷别吻我 (Season 1) Review

This review was written prior to the release/watching of Season 2 which directly continues from Season 1.

I never thought I would sink so deep into this show after starting it out of pure curiosity of its good ratings… but for all its light-hearted classic romance, comedy, and extremely easy-to-watch enjoyability, it was hard for me not to. uwu. I really enjoyed this and actually suffered withdrawal for once from this show…

Highly recommended: 8.5/10 (objectively)but 9/10 for enjoyment!

While Master Devil uses many familiar romcom tropes (namely Itazura na Kiss and Hana Yori Dango e.g. moving into male lead’s home, popular but unapproachable male lead, elite school etc.), the show stands out well in being a GOOD well-written romcom WITHOUT all the unnecessary angst, frustration over stupid/extreme characters or developments, and exaggerated/pointless drama.

Here, we have a truly independent and intelligent female lead Chu Xia who is given a lot of opportunities to develop her relations with other characters in a NON-hopeless-girl-against-the-whole-world context, without always involving the male lead Qi Lu. And for the male lead, contrary to the title, he really isn’t an unreasonable arrogant ass at all, even if he may be unfriendly in general. He still has ego issues and is reminiscent of the lovely-bastard-style character that was Ji Cun Xi (in Fated to Love You) even, but is still not that bad, for all his childish and nerdy hilarity. Really, to my delight, all of the characters are generally really nice and not hateful at all, which really makes the watching experience so much more easy to watch and enjoyable.

Perhaps given its short 20-minute-per-episode format, the plot moves relatively fast from one arc to another with a good balance between the leads’ romantic tension/development and relationships with other characters, ending on enticing previews and building on previously mentioned things (making the developments more natural and coherent). Although the characters all have a kind of general stereotype we can identify, their interactions with each other are refreshing and light-hearted and never fail to amuse me every time, especially with the male lead Qi Lu ;))

What is even better really is how the plot develops in a very reasonable and logical way!! (to think that most romcoms don’t even have much of this tho lol) To not be so hung up over a single kiss, to thank someone even though you don’t necessarily like them, for antagonists to also be reasonable rather than extremely single-mindedly bent on something??

But seriously, there is only arguably ~10% of plot development that doesn’t quite make a lot of sense and requires some suspension of disbelief, such as the first episode lol. (But once you get over that bridge, all will be well ;))

Since many of the cast members are fresh faces to me, I am less able to vouch for their acting. But they still did a good job in my opinion to represent the characters with the depth and distinct personality to make the show reasonable rather than flat. (Also a plus since they all also have good looks haha)

The OST is amongst some of greatest faults of this show, other than the questionable fade-to-black transitions that the production team chose to use. Attributable to the lower web-drama budget of the show, the OST is definitely not spectacular compared to more popular OSTs, especially the opening theme which just makes me orz. Nonetheless, I managed to grow into the other songs of the OSTs with time in my bid to relieve withdrawal symptoms.

That being said, it’s very important to note that these 23 episodes CANNOT be viewed as a completed story, given the way it ended that leads in to the next season as if it were just another episode. Hence, despite the completion of a season, the story seriously is not over yet, given the number of questions left and the HUGE POTENTIAL for further romantic development that has left me in my current withdrawal state.

As a result, the rewatch value for the show is definitely high for me, given the current anticipation for Season 2 and simply the fact that the show has such classic elements without causing the heartache, that there will always be something you can enjoy from watching it again. :))

EDIT: English Subs have been slowly added to the official YouTube releases searchable with the Chinese title”恶魔少爷别吻我” ! Season 1 has since been fully subbed and can be found on other drama websites while Season 2 has subs for at least half the season already.

2 thoughts on “Master Devil Do Not Kiss Me 恶魔少爷别吻我 (Season 1) Review”

I am glad someone else has found this show as well! I randomed upon this show and bjnged the first season within a day or two and I found it super enjoyable for a cute, simple drama. I love that the Mom/Stepmon character is not against their relationship as that trope gets really old in Kdramas. I have watched about halfway through season 2 and need to finish it when the subs come out. I definitely want to keep an eye on some of these young actors and see what other work they do in the future 🙂